This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies.

The secret to living to 110? Bad record-keeping, researcher says

submited by

Style Pass

2025-01-14 11:30:36

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Most of what we know about humans living to very old age is based on faulty data, including the science behind the "blue zones" famous for having a high proportion of people over 100, according to one researcher.

The desire to live as long as possible has driven a booming lifestyle industry selling supplements, books, tech and tips to those wanting to learn the secrets of the world's oldest people.

But Saul Justin Newman, a researcher at University College London's Centre for Longitudinal Studies, told AFP that most extreme old age data "is junk to a really shocking degree".

Newman's research, which is currently being peer-reviewed, looked at data about centenarians and supercentenarians—people who live to 100 and 110—in the United States, Italy, England, France and Japan.